PEOPLE AT WORK

Deborah Duffy depends on details to distinguish her work. She is the owner of a cleaning service that has begun to expand into a company that meets all kind of needs.

A key is to ``anticipate needs before they are needed,`` Duffy said.

Duffy, who is in her early 30s, started out on an entirely different track as an elementary school teacher.

A teaching friend suggested they work together after school cleaning homes and Duffy began to find her niche.

Two years ago, when her friend moved on to other concerns, Duffy decided to make cleaning a full-time business, and Good old-Fashioned Cleaning Inc. was born.

``It`s a challenge, having your own business. I love to see beautiful homes,`` Duffy said.

``I found I had a flair for the extras,`` added Duffy, whose trademark is leaving fresh flowers for her customers.

Good old-Fashioned Cleaning has cared for David and Kim Minter`s Delray Beach home once a week for two years.

``I like having a crew come in. They are faster and better (than one individual). I don`t like having a lot of people in the house for a long period of time,`` David Minter said.

``We know all the different crews. They are really nice people,`` he said.

Duffy`s business initially consisted of cleaning private homes. Then customers began asking if she knew someone who could handle a party or provide services. That`s when things took off.

Duffy provides single services, such as pick-up and delivery of ironing, and full packages including coordinating the complete care of a home.

For winter residents, Duffy arranges pool cleaning and exterminator visits. She organizes the stop and start of mail and newspaper delivery. When a hurricance watch was announced last summer, Duffy made sure clients` vacant homes were shuttered and readied for a storm.

Before a homeowner arrives for the season, Duffy has water and power service renewed and even does grocery shopping so homeowners need only turn the key.

Her business has grown steadily and now Duffy has 60 private homes on contract. She has a staff of six, who go out to the homes, often in pairs, to perform the weekly tasks.

Boca Raton resident Judith Englander has Duffy`s service clean her condominium. She travels frequently on business and Duffy cares for her place in the absence. Englander has also counted on Duffy to arrange a catered party and airport transportation.

``It`s really a full-service concierge business,`` Englander said.

Linda Cammack of Boca Raton depends on Duffy for just one service, to pick up and deliver all her husband`s ironing. ``I just don`t have the time, I`m working. It`s really worth it, `` she said.

Dependable is how Joyce Barret describes Duffy. The winter resident is a longtime client and she counts on Duffy to care for her Boca Raton condominium while she is away.

``She`s responsible, a self-starter and a doer. And all of her staff are great,`` Barret said.

Good old-Fashioned Cleaning Inc. is now in Delray Beach but Duffy will soon move the office to Boca Raton. The business is expanding to incude commercial accounts, and Duffy has several contracts with businesses.

Kelly Skidmore, a Boca Raton realty office manager, hired Duffy. Skidmore said she believed she would never be happy with a cleaning service -- before Duffy. But ``she really does take pride in what she does and she`s always concered that there`s no problems.``

Duffy has no qualms about her switch in profession.

``It`s a lot more interesting being self-employed, and a lot more lucrative,`` she said.